THE SUDDEN AWAKENING
"Thought you meant to go to bed, Lub?" said Ethan, some little time
afterwards, as they were all sitting around again.
"Oh! somehow I seem to have gotten over my sleepy spell," admitted the
other, frankly; "perhaps it was the excitement over seeing that prowler
outside that did it. I'm as wide awake as a hawk right now."
"Well, it's just the other way with me," X-Ray remarked, yawning almost
as furiously as Lub had been doing before; "I'm getting dopey, and mean
to turn in pretty soon. If nothing else happens to bother, nobody's
going to hear a word from me after I hit the hay."
Lub looked at him painfully, but he did not think it best to ask further
questions lest he stir up a hornets' nest. There was something on Lub's
mind. Phil understood this from various signs. He began to get an
inkling as to what its nature might prove to be, when several times he
saw the other lean forward and look long and earnestly up the chimney.
"What d'ye expect to see up there, Lub?" asked Ethan, who had also it
seemed been watching the other. "This isn't the time for old Santa Claus
to come down with his pack of toys. His reindeer need snow for their
sledge, you know."
"Will you let the fire go out when we turn in, Phil?" asked Lub,
ignoring all such little annoyances as this.
"Why, I suppose so," he was told. "If it was cold weather it might be a
different thing; but to-night is pretty warm, and we'll get little air
in here, with the door closed. Yes, the last wood has been thrown on the
fire; and to tell the truth there's only a handful more in the house,
which we'll save to start things with in the morning."
"What did you ask that for, Lub?"
X-Ray made this inquiry. He realized that the other must have something
on his mind, or he would not have spoken as he did. And X-Ray was
curious to know what its character might turn out to be.
"Oh, nothing much; only it strikes me that's a whopping big chimney,
that's all," replied the other, a little confused.
"I see what you mean," said Phil; "you're thinking that even if we do
close the door as we intend, if a thief wanted to get in here he could
creep down such a wide-throated chimney? Well, I shouldn't be at all
surprised if he could, providing he took the notion."
"I hate to think of being sound asleep, and not know a single thing
about it," pursued Lub, "You know how I caught that darky stealing our
chickens last winter? I set a trap for him, and gave him such a scare
that he just crouched in a corner of the coop with all the hens cackling
like mad, till father went out and got him by the scruff of the neck."
"Mebbe you'd like to set one of your fine traps here then, Lub,"
suggested Ethan.
"I think I could do it, if the rest of you didn't object," Lub pursued.
"Please yourself," said Phil.
"I'm off to bed right now," added X-Ray Tyson, "so you c'n have the
whole blooming field to yourself. Be sure you don't get nabbed in your
own contraption, Lub. Now, you may smile at my saying that, but it
wouldn't be the first time a bitter got bitten."
Both Phil and Ethan began to stretch, and exhibited other positive signs
of being ready to turn in. It would appear that none of the rest of them
gave much thought to the possibility of their having unwelcome visitors
during the night. Lub envied them their calm indifference; but he felt
that he would not be doing his whole duty unless he carried out that
idea of the trap.
He saw Phil saunter over to the door, which, with something of an effort
he managed to get to close tight enough so that the bar could be dropped
into place. That avenue seemed quite safe; and as the windows had each
one a couple of stout bars fastened across them, it looked as though
there could be no ingress unless the intruder were a mere child, or else
made use of that wide-throated slab-and-hard-mud chimney.
The other boys were more or less amused to see what the ingenious Lub
was doing, in order to further his plot. First of all he arranged the
stools and other bulky objects that he could gather about the room in
such fashion that they formed a species of rude barricade on either side
of the hearth, where the red embers still held forth.
"Looks like a regular wild animal trap, all right!" Ethan sang out, as
though more or less surprised that Lub should know as much as he did
about such things. "That forces the intruder to step out in the middle;
and I guess now that's where you're going to fix things to give him a
warm reception, eh, Lub?"
"You wait and see," was all the other would say.
They quickly understood what he had in mind. Everything they had along
in the shape of cooking utensils, that would be apt to make a jangling
noise if thrown down, was utilized. The big frying pan crowned the
pyramid, and Lub was very particular just how he placed this, so that
the least jar was apt to dislodge the aluminum skillet, which would be
certain to arouse even the soundest sleeper when it rattled on the
floor.
"Don't kick over our grub that we've got piled up close by you there,
Lub," warned X-Ray, after chuckling to see how the other was making such
elaborate arrangements; for he did not have the remotest idea they would
amount to anything in the end.
"That ought to finish your trap, Lub, I should think," said Phil, who
was almost ready to climb into his bunk, having removed most of his
clothing, and arranged his sleeping quarters in a jiffy; he too had a
small pillow-slip filled with some of the hay, upon which he expected to
rest his head comfortably.
"Why, yes, I don't seem to think of anything else we've got that would
help to make a big noise," the other replied, soberly; "what with four
cups, as many platters, the coffeepot, and the frying pan ought to make
plenty of racket. But say, you should have seen the heap of tin-pans I
piled up the time I caught that chicken thief."
"If you had much more than this lot," Ethan announced, "I don't wonder
the poor critter was scared nearly stiff, and could only crouch there
till your dad came and arrested him."
"And on my part," said X-Ray Tyson, with another wide yawn, "I only hope
there doesn't anything happen to start that pyramid tumbling, that's
all. If I was dreaming of something lovely it'd sure be a shame to get
waked up by such a row, and to find that it was all brought about by a
pannikin slipping out of place."
"No danger of that happening," Lub told him; "I've tested it all, and
you can depend on things holding."
By slow degrees all of them managed to get settled down. Even slow
moving Lub was finally snug in his bunk, though he had to shuffle around
for some time while settling himself into the most comfortable position.
Ethan threatened all sorts of dire things unless he stopped moving
about, because it happened that the sleeping place chosen by the fat
camper was just above his.
"I c'n hear it creakin' like anything," announced Ethan; "and if you
keep up that squirming business much longer, Lub, I tell you she'll come
down on me. Think I'm hankering about being smashed flatter'n a pancake,
do you? I don't see why you had to go and pick out one of the upper
berths, just because you imagined it was a mite bigger'n any other.
'Tain't fair, I tell you. Go easy now, and quit that moving about. If
you've got the itch say so, and we'll rub you down with something. Stop
it, right now!"
Perhaps being scolded in this fashion had some effect upon Lub. At any
rate he concluded that what couldn't be cured would have to be endured.
So he did his level best to forget all about possible night visitors of
all types, and tried to lose himself in sleep.
Phil had put out the lantern the last thing. He kept it close by his
hand, with matches where he could produce a light in a hurry, in case
one was required.
The fire had burned low. Now and then a little flame would spring up and
make a faint buzzing sound. Once or twice when this occurred Phil saw
Lub raise his head and look earnestly toward the chimney; but he must
have finally decided that it was an innocent noise, for with its second
repetition he failed to move.
"He's off," Phil told himself, with a slight sigh of satisfaction, for
from the way Lub was acting he had begun to fear they were in for a bad
night of it.
Lying there Phil rested his head on his arm and looked out into the
cabin. When the dying flame occasionally leaped up and burned fitfully
for a dozen seconds or so he liked to watch it, and also glance around
him as well as he was able.
Phil fairly loved everything that had to do with outdoor life. The dank
odor of the woods filled him with a sense of delight that he could never
find words to describe. He believed it must have come down to him from
some long line of ancestors, this love for Nature, and a desire to
commune with her.
Fortune had been kind to him in giving him the means to enjoy such
outings; and it added much to his satisfaction to have these fine
fellows along with him. They were very dear to Phil. Not one of them
would he have willingly missed if such a disaster could be avoided.
Then as he lay there waiting until the drowsiness overtook him again, he
allowed his fugitive thoughts to once more wrestle with the mystery
connected with the late occupants of that birch bark cabin. Who could
they be, and whither had they flown at the approach of himself and three
chums?
It was hardly any accident, for all the signs pointed to a flight that
bordered on panic. Whoever they were they must have some good and
sufficient reason for fearing the advent of strangers. That could only
mean they dreaded the strong arm of the law; that there was _some_
reason why they wished to keep from contact with all whom they did not
know.
Well, Phil concluded, there was no use of bothering about them. They had
taken a hurried departure, and that was the end of it. He had reason to
believe that a child had been there, and possibly a woman as well.
While they had not found such tell-tale evidence as a hair-pin, still
the little silver thimble which he himself had discovered on a shelf
just before retiring, and which he had not mentioned to the others,
because he hated to get Lub wide-awake again, seemed to be pretty strong
evidence that way.
When he found himself yawning again Phil decided it was time he closed
his eyes, and allowed his senses to steal away. The fire had ceased
flaring up, and was dying out rapidly, though the ashes would likely
retain some of their heat until well on toward dawn.
The last Phil remembered was listening to the weird call of that
persistent whip-poor-will, perched in some neighboring tree, and sending
forth its shrill discordant cries.
Twice after that he awoke, and found all well. He could hear the steady
breathing of his comrades near by; and Lub, lying flat on his back
perhaps, was making a grating noise not unlike a snore.
The second time Phil struck a match, one of the silent kind, and took a
look at his watch, curious to know how the night was wearing away. He
found it was two o'clock, and that the guess he had made was not far
amiss.
It took him some little time to get asleep again after that, but in the
end he managed to accomplish it. Daylight would be coming by four
o'clock and as the novelty of the outing was still upon them, it was to
be expected that the boys would want to be up with the birds--that is,
all but Lub, who loved sleeping better than plunging into the lake for
an early morning swim.
It was fated, however, that they were not to be allowed to slumber
calmly on until the approach of the sun hurried the round moon out of
sight below the western horizon.
A most unearthly racket sounding awoke every one. If an earthquake had
occurred it could hardly have created a greater noise. And the big
frying pan proved that the supreme confidence which Lub had placed in
its ability to jangle had not been in the least overdone; for it
certainly played a fandango as it pitched over on the hard floor of the
cabin, and danced some sort of jig, with other things adding their
little mite to swell the chorus.
Four fellows came tumbling out of their bunks as one.
"Phil, oh! Phil, strike a light!" cried one.
"Where's my gun?" growled X-Ray Tyson, thinking that in this way he
must give fresh alarm to the bold intruder, whoever he might prove to
be.
"Phil, the thief has come down the chimney, just as I feared!" called
Lub, who in the darkness hardly knew which way to look.
As he managed to get his bearings to some degree he was sure he could
detect a man on his hands and knees crawling over the floor. At the same
time he heard a whining sound, as well as what seemed to be scratching;
and it struck terror to the heart of poor Lub. He fancied that others
were without, waiting for the first thief to open the door, in order
that they too might rush in, and help make prisoners of the four
Mountain Boys.
Just then Lub to his great relief saw a tiny flame spring up close by.
This he knew must be a match in the hand of Phil Bradley, who was
meaning to light his lantern.
To Lub it seemed an age before the flame was communicated to the wick,
and yet it could only have been a comparatively few seconds, no longer
than Phil would have taken under ordinary conditions. His hand did not
tremble appreciably; and while in an undoubted hurry he went about his
self appointed task with a deliberation that promised a successful
result.
Then came the snap as the globe was pressed into place. The room was no
longer in darkness. It was possible to see; and with his heart feeling
as though it were trying to climb up in his throat Lub fixed his eyes on
the spot where he had discovered that moving, creeping object.
What he saw thrilled him through and through, so that for the life of
him Lub could not move, or even utter a sound above a whisper. Nor were
the other boys much better off, to tell the truth, for they all stood
there as though rooted firmly to the spot.